Stability of negatively charged dust grains in Saturn's ring plane

Physics

Scientific paper

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Charged Particles, Magnetically Trapped Particles, Mass Ratios, Particle Mass, Saturn Rings, Stable Oscillations, Adiabatic Equations, Gravitational Constant, Nonstabilized Oscillation, Optical Thickness, Particle Size Distribution, Planetary Magnetic Fields, Planetary Mass, Planetary Rotation, Voyager 2 Spacecraft

Scientific paper

The boundary between the inner and outer parts of Saturn's B ring is located at the theoretical limit of stability of dust grains with large negative charge to mass ratio. A grain inside of this stability limit will move along magnetic field lines and strike Saturn if given a slight velocity component normal to the ring plane. Outside of this marginal stability radius, a perturbed grain merely oscillates back and forth through the ring plane. The theoretical location of the marginal stability radius is at 1.625 Saturn radius. Observations by Pioneer 11 and Voyager 2 in the infared see the boundary as a prominent change in ring brightness at this radius. The occultation of delta-Scorpii by the rings in the ultraviolet seen by Voyager 2 shows about a factor of two change in optical depth beginning very close to this radius.

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